I have a finance quiz to study for tomorrow but here I am, once again, procrastinating. My only justification is that I'm currently severely under the weather. Out of no where, I got hit with the flu, a sore throat and a mild fever; which is very bizarre because I've not been eating anything 'heaty'. The only explanation I can think of is my lack of sleep which has reduced my immune system. Either way, I hope I recover soon because falling sick sucks big time. #kingofstatingtheobvious

Anyway, this entry features our little day trip to Dawakol Desert. I was pretty excited because I've never been to an actual desert before. Yet at the same time, I wasn't expecting much. I mean, when you say desert, all I think of are camels and mountains of sand. There doesn't seem like there's particularly much to do, ha-ha.


Yup, see. CAMELS. But we didn't dare climb on board a camel because firstly, some people were still pretty freaked out from the horse riding experience and secondly, we were all afraid of contracting MERS from these animals. #paranoidSingaporeans Well, you know what they say, better safe than sorry, ha-ha.


So we opted for DUNE BUGGIES instead. These were DAMN FUN to ride on. Initially, whilst we were still on even ground heading towards the entrance of the desert, we were all like "Is this it?" Once we hit the sand dunes, it was when things got insane. It literally felt like a roller coaster ride, just that you got to control how intense you wanted the adrenaline rush to be, ha-ha.

Labels: china, friends, OCSP, travel

written at 18:04 0 comments

Another aspect of our OCSP (in addition to educating secondary school children in Tashkurgan) was refurbishing the Uyghur Cultural Centre in Kashgar. By now, the temperature had taken a huge change and it was sweltering in Kashgar (hence the drastic change in our attire). Refurbishing included cleaning and tidying the interior of the cultural centre (no photos because it wasn't particularly interesting) as well as painting a mural on the external wall of the place.


Many many MANY photos of this adorable boy, Abdul Salam, who was busy running around whilst we were doing our work. Apparently, his parents work and live at the cultural centre (think they tend to the chores around the centre). He probably doesn't see many visitors on a day to day basis. Hence, the sudden arrival of 17 English-speaking young adults must have excited him quite a bit. Really love how the photos turned out; I think it not only captures his glee, but the simple things that bring him joy which you won't see in Singaporean children.


PROOF that our OCSP wasn't all about taking #OOTDs, riding horses or visiting stone fortresses, ha-ha. We spent an entire day white-washing the external wall and another day painting the mural. Let me tell you this, it ain't easy trying to white wash a wall made from mud instead of bricks. The painting of the mural on the other hand was actually quite enjoyable and therapeutic, minus the sun beating down our backs. Just thankful I didn't get sun burnt even though I was resembling a lobster towards the end of the day. Think the only truly challenging part of this whole experience was visiting the loo. Oh goodness, just typing about it out brings back so many nightmares about the sight and smell of the water cabinet. OKAY, moving on~


And here's me with the final product - a Uyghur man guiding his camel into the sunset (which my big ass head is blocking). I'm quite proud of what we accomplished as a team. We managed to work extremely well together and finished way ahead of time. This gave us more opportunities to bond and get to know one another even better. Below is a time lapse video we recorded using a GoPRO to show the formation of the mural painting. This is my first time embedding an InstaVideo so I hope it loads on your computers/laptops. Oh and if you haven't already done so, follow me on Instagram.

Labels: china, friends, OCSP, travel, videos

written at 01:56 0 comments

I'm back! For more updates regarding my OCSP trip. This time, featuring photos from our horse riding adventures in Tagahma Valley. It was sort of a pit stop on our way down from Tashkurgan to Kashgar and we decided to incorporate this as part of our R&R. I don't know if you can tell from how bundled up we are, but it was the coldest temperature we experienced whilst in China. Maybe not below zero, but close enough for there to be frost on the ground.

Looking back, it was a fun experience on the whole, but a scary one as well. For starters, I don't think the horses are all that well trained? Either that or they mustn't be very used to having strangers on their backs. A friend and fellow team mate of mine actually fell off and got trampled on a little bit by one of the horses. Thankfully he didn't fracture or sprain anything, there was just some minor bruising that went down after a while.

Then, on our way back from our sightseeing, we were hit with a major sandstorm (see last photo).  I mean, we experienced some sandstorms back at Tashkurgan Secondary, but there were always buildings to run into or hide behind. Here, we were out on a vast open space, vulnerable. The horses were kind of spooked by it and were trying to seek shelter on their own. Fortunately, their handlers knew what to do and everyone made it back in one piece. Our vision became severely limited during the sandstorm so it was difficult to try and ascertain where everyone was. I had to quickly use my scarf as a make shift mask just to protect myself from the sand. Was also doing my best to try and calm my horse, constantly patting it gently and trying to regulate my heartbeat. My theory is that while we're on the back of the horse, they can probably feel our heartbeat? So if you're calm, they'll be calm. If they sense your nerves or tension, they'll freak out too.

At the end of the day, we all made it back safe and sound and I guess it makes for an interesting anecdote to share, ha-ha.

Labels: china, friends, OCSP, travel

written at 10:59 0 comments

Just in case anyone is wondering why I'm suddenly updating so often, it's because I'm procrastinating and avoiding school work. To be fair, I've spent the afternoon clearing my Finance homework and will be doing my case study project preparation later after dinner. If I have the time, I may even deal with the statement of accounts for settling claims for our OCSP trip. But yeah, I'm just giving myself a break now (not well deserved I'm afraid) before dinner time and since there's no new videos on YouTube to watch at the moment, I figured I'd churn out another entry.


Actually, there's nothing much to write about regarding this entry. The group of us basically visited a stone fortress whilst in Tashkurgan because it's supposed to be their one and only tourist attraction, ha-ha. Didn't really bother to read up about the place so to me, it's just a massive expanse of nothing but rocks and stones. That said, because we were so high up in the mountains, the place made for a very nice back drop to take incessant amounts of photos. So yeah, the rest of the entry shall just be a bunch of images that we took. More can be view on Facebook (if we're friends, ha-ha).


Nearly died trying to take that jump shot thanks to the uneven ground, but anything for an amazing photo to post on Instagram yes? Ha-ha.

Labels: china, friends, OCSP, travel

written at 18:10 0 comments

Right, so keeping to my promise about updating about the rest of my OCSP trip earlier in May (gosh, has it already been 3 months?!), today's post features our time spent in Tashkurgan Secondary. Basically Part 01 of our 3 part community service in China, and arguably our most memorable part of the trip.


To be perfectly honest, I went into this with a pessimistic and cynical mindset. Our time spent over at Damai Primary in Singapore for our pre-OCSP left me with an incredibly bad impression about educating kids in general and I was dreading having to interact with another bunch of demon spawns. However, I was completely proven wrong with the bunch of kids over at Tashkurgan Secondary. They were so eager to learn and very well behaved, it was almost like a huge culture shock that I was experiencing. Puts in perspective what people mean when they say Singaporean kids are spoilt. To a certain extent, we don't cherish things like our education and safety as much because we are born with the mindset that these things are a given. When in fact, they should be seen as privileges instead and not to be taken for granted.

We went there with the purpose to help enrich the lives of the children and teach them something, and at the risk of sounding cliche and cheesy or whatever, I honestly believe I learnt more from the kids than what I've passed on to them. I came back to Singapore with the mentality that every time I feel ungrateful about something and basically just feel like whining like a spoilt brat, I remind myself of what I've seen over in Tashkurgan and tell myself that I should focus on the positives rather than the negatives. #pollyanna


My time spent there also definitely put in perspective how different children in developed and developing countries are brought up. They entertain themselves with outdoor activities and games involving a group of people. Back here, kids are constantly glued to a screen and hooked onto anything which emits bright lights and colours. I just hope my niece and future nephews/nieces don't grow up addicted to gadgets.

It was a tearful moment for many when we had to leave after 3 days. I'm not one to be sentimental and stuff and I'm pragmatic enough to know I won't be contacting the kids once I'm back in Singapore. Hence I didn't really bother as much as the rest of my team to bond with the kids and exchange contacts etc. I didn't want to give them false hope and the impression that we will still keep in touch after I leave. Because the truth of the matter is, I won't. Personally, I just hope I managed to leave as lasting an impression on them as they have done with me.

Okay, this will probably be the most insightful post out of all the past and future OCSP entries, ha-ha. Hopefully I won't be drowning in school work this term and manage another entry some time soon.

Labels: china, friends, OCSP, travel

written at 17:48 0 comments

*dusts the cobwebs off this blog* Goodness, it's been a while since I've last updated. My life has been completely taken over by my internship, sighs. But more on that in a separate post, this (severely overdue) post features some of the sights of 塔什库. I'll be writing about the secondary school and the stone fortress in the separate entries.

塔什库 was possibly the most scenic place we visited on this OCSP, but even before we managed to get there, a crisis happened. Our flight got delayed for over 10 hours, what are the odds? Fortunately, we had VERY capable leaders who managed everything perfectly (including the incompetent airport staff). For a moment I thought I was going to have to face the nightmare situation I experienced last year in San Francisco.


Sunk our teeth into their mutton buns for the first time, ha-ha why does that sound somewhat dirty. Their staple meat seems to be mutton. Everywhere we went, there were dead goats/lambs/sheep hanging out for sale. You get used to the smell and taste after a while, but I made the conscious effort not to eat too much mutton because I feel smelly after eating the meat. Probably not true, but yeah, ha-ha. Wasn't a huge fan of the China cuisine in general, but you've got to make do and suck it up. At the end of the day, I just kept telling myself - "You're here for OCSP, not on holiday."


On our 8 hour bus ride up to the mountains, we stopped over at Corner Lake & Sand Mountain (I can never for the life of me get the name right without Googling it) for a couple of minutes to take some touristy shots. My picture doesn't do the view any justice whatsoever. It was beautiful to just look at, very serene and calming and peaceful. Funniest part was when the locals there tried to sell us painted stones as souvenirs. Really now, do we look that gullible?


HUGE difference in the weather up at 塔什库 than at 广州, as you can clearly tell from how wrapped up we all are. Should have appreciated the weather there more, it was sweltering by the time we got down to 喀什 on the 2nd half of our OCSP. To better elaborate on just how cold it was up there - when I went to sleep at night, I wore sweat pants, thermal socks, a T-shirt, a jacket and bundled myself up in a blanket. To be fair, I slept closest to the window so it may have been colder at my bunk.


We had quite a bit of free time every morning to explore the tiny town. Morning are supposed to be use to prepare for our activities later in the day, but we were just too *cough* efficient. Their market place is very different from the ones you see in Singapore. Their produce are still alive, ha-ha. They're only slaughtered once you make the purchase, except for the mutton of course.


A couple more interesting sights of the small town that we stayed in for 3 days. There isn't that much to see or do to be honest. The place is very rural and the shops are mostly food places, homes or selling basic daily necessities. Most interesting thing I saw there - a Tibetan Mastiff. I swear for a moment I thought I was looking at a caged, miniature lion, ha-ha. And while we have the Merlion, 塔什库 has their statue of an eagle, because they believe that they are the descendants of eagles.


Another common food staple, their naan. It's so big you can cover your face with it, ha-ha. Definitely wasn't easy trying to have a balanced diet while in China, but like I said, you make do. I sort of lost the inspiration I had to churn out the blog posts for my OCSP trip. I was afraid of this, which was why I tried my best to blog as early as possible. But yeah, internship commitments. Anyway, I'm glad I managed to churn this entry out at work. It's a slow day and I'm just hiding in a corner of the office pretending to be busy, ha-ha. Shhhhh..

Labels: china, food, friends, OCSP, travel

written at 15:01 0 comments